What does Sylvan SAT Prep include?

With the weather turning cooler, the sun setting earlier and students back in school, many local High Schoolers' thoughts are turning towards thoughts of their future.  Their first step in that direction?  The SAT.

At Sylvan, we help students to prepare for this very important milestone in our SAT preparation course.  Our course includes 3 practice SAT tests that are taken in the center and timed in the same manner as is done on the day of an actual test.  Our teachers are not only certified by the state (which means that they can teach in a school) they are also trained in Sylvan methods.  All of our SAT teachers teach other subjects here in our center, which means they are experts in their fields and can give your child a broader view while they are preparing for their test.  In addition, we provide your child with a math and a verbal textbook that can keep to continue practice even after their 30 hour individualized course is completed.  In addition, we are very excited to introduce the NEW SylvanTestPrep.com where students and parents have immediate access to graded tests as well as additional activities to further increase their scores.

I know there is one big question that everyone has: Does Sylvan SAT preparation work?  Watch this video to learn about a Sylvan student that demonstrates this:



Need more information?

Please call your local Sylvan Learning Center to learn about our schedule, fees and about the other great courses we can provide for your child to prepare for College.

Clinton, NJ (908) 638-6788

Flemington, NJ (908) 806-4010

GETTING IN GEAR: A BACK TO SCHOOL SURVIVAL GUIDE

Despite the warm temperatures and sunny skies, many students are feeling a shadow looming as back to school season creeps closer. After weeks of lazy, summer days, late nights, varying routines and minimal mental stimulation, the return to school can seem overwhelming to students of all ages.


To help parents and children get ready for the new school year, we are offering several tips to ease the transition from the beach to the classroom and jumpstart sluggish summer brains.


STUDENTS:
For many students, the first day of school doesn’t only bring new teachers and new friends - it can also be a source of anxiety with homework assignments and tests just around the corner. Starting the school year off on the right foot can help minimize students’ stress levels throughout the year.


Get Cleaning. A dirty, cluttered room is not conducive to studying. Get organized before homework starts piling up.
• Remove seldom-worn clothing.
• Pack away belongings not used on a regular basis.
• For smaller children, label areas so they can easily see where belongings should go.


Carve Out A Homework Spot. Whether it is in your bedroom, the basement, or a family office, find an area where you can work distraction-free and claim it as your official workspace.

• Pick a place that is always available and where you feel comfortable doing schoolwork.
• Stock the area with all of the supplies and tools that are needed to complete homework.


Get Organized. Organization is key to ensure you stay on top of the requirements for each subject.
• Use separate, labeled notebooks for each class.
• Create files for each subject. The folders can hold assignments, essays, handouts and notes taken during classes.
• Purchase a planner or calendar to keep track of important dates and deadlines.


Set Educational Goals. Whether it is striving for an A in a certain subject, handing in all homework on time or preparing for tests well in advance, setting goals can help establish a routine for the new year.
• Set goals that are measurable, specific, reasonable and have personal value.


Stay On Schedule. Minimize last minute cramming or deadline mix-ups by creating a detailed school schedule.

• Include all classes, assignments and key dates, such as project deadlines and test dates. Fill in new dates as they arise.
• Schedule specific times for studying, projects and extracurricular activities. The more thorough the schedule, the more helpful it will be to you.

Know The School. If you ever feel swamped with back to school madness, ask for help. Schools assist students with transitioning from one grade to another. Meet with your guidance counselor and/or teachers. If you are still nervous, ask your mom or dad to drop you off at school on the first day of class.


Be Adventurous. Step out of your comfort zone this school year by trying new things academically and in terms of extracurricular activities.
• Try every type of class and/or activity. You never know what your strengths are until you experience as much as you can.
• Challenge yourself. If you have the opportunity, take the hardest classes - not the easiest subjects.
• Ask questions. There is nothing wrong with not always knowing the answer. Asking questions is the best way to learn!



Think Positive. Yes, going back to school means homework and early mornings. It also means reconnecting with old friends, meeting new people, resuming fun extracurricular activities, learning more about your favorite subjects and improving on your last year’s performance.



PARENTS:



While the idea of waking up at the crack of dawn to prepare lunches, fighting over appropriate school attire and regulating the amount of television watched might have you frazzled, take solace in the fact that you can play a big part in getting your children motivated and excited to tackle a new school year.

Depending on your child’s age, your role in the above-mentioned tips will vary. The following are helpful ideas to ease kids of all ages back into learning mode:

Help Your Child Discover His/Her Learning Style. Because each child is special, with different learning styles and academic needs, it is important to personalize the learning process. People learn in at least eight different ways, according to the Multiple Intelligences Theory: visually, verbally, physically, mathematically, musically, naturalistically, through group activity or through quiet thinking time. Talk to your child’s teachers about your child’s learning strengths and how best to support them.



Get Back In The Routine. Ease the transition from lazy summer days to the structure of the school year by re-establishing bedtime, mealtime, reading and homework routines. Talk with your child about the importance of structure and how routines help ensure that he is not overtired or overly anxious about schoolwork.

Develop A Family Event Calendar. One of the most helpful tools for getting organized is a family event calendar. To ease the chaos, track school programs, volunteer work and after-school activities. Family time management is essential if you are going to avoid the tumultuous frenzy of disorganization.

• Depending on your children’s ages, this calendar can be on construction paper with large squares to write in all necessary information, or it can be produced on a white board so that it is easy to revise.

• If it is color-coded by family member, you can clearly see who has an activity scheduled and when the event occurs.

• Place the calendar near the telephone, so when a friend’s mother calls to invite your child to a birthday party, you will know instantly whether it fits within your family plans.
Purchase School Supplies In Advance. Avoid the last-minute rush by purchasing supplies at least one week in advance. Take your child. She can feel excited and in control by choosing her favorite colors and designs.
Be a Cheerleader. Encourage your child to share any concerns he has about returning to school. Reinforce positive feelings by talking with your child about learning and achievement. Support his academic interests and encourage him to get involved in extracurricular activities at school.

Have Questions about Sylvan?

We've created a series of short presentations that can help you to see what kinds of things we offer in our Sylvan. Click through the presentation to get answers to our Frequently Asked Questions:

Sylvan Learning Center FAQ on Prezi

Middle School Year – Transition Your Way Up To Success

Tips and ideas to help your student navigate through typical

Middle-school challenges

While it may be summer now, school will begin soon enough. For students who said goodbye to elementary school earlier this year, this fall represents the start of a critical transition to middle school.

Middle school means new beginnings, experiences and challenges. And while these changes —new friends, new teachers and new school environment — can be exciting, they also can be a bit unnerving for new middle-schoolers.

“These transition years can be exhilarating and full of promise, but they also can cause some measure of anxiety,” says Richard E. Bavaria, Ph.D., senior vice president of education outreach for Sylvan Learning.

“Research and common sense tell us that the first year in middle school is critical,” Bavaria says. “During this single year, a new middle-schooler must assimilate, make new friends, set goals, establish new habits and attitudes, take tougher courses, discover talents and interests, learn new skills, and begin to build confidence in this new environment. Making sure a child handles this transition year well should be an important goal for parents. In fact, a primary indicator of a successful middle school experience is a positive transition from elementary school. And the key to that positive transition is good preparation.”

Here are some of the most daunting changes students will encounter during this year of transition — and some tips from Sylvan Learning on how to work through them successfully.

Challenge: Negotiating the New Environment

The Locker Scare: One of the biggest concerns incoming middle-schoolers have is the locker. Instead of lugging their stuff around in one bag, students now have a place to store everything safely. The best part about the locker is being able to personalize it with photos, drawings, magazine clippings, and anything else that makes it feel comfortable. Ease locker fears and purchase a combination lock and practice before school starts.

New Campus: If your student has to go to an entirely new school, it may seem overwhelming at first. Explore the school's Web site with your child and better yet - explore the new campus.  The better your child understands the school layout and rules, the more at ease she’ll feel on the first day.  Ask the school if there are any campus tours or orientations available to parents and incoming students. Get a map of the campus and take your child to explore. Be sure to check in with the school office to get an OK for your explorations.

New Schedule: With different classes in different rooms on different days, middle school schedules can seem confusing and scary at first. A few weeks before school begins, check with your school to see when schedules are ready so that your child can have some time to get comfortable with the new routine. If your student needs help finding something or keeping track of where he has to be, encourage him to ask a teacher or other school staff for help.

Challenge: Acquiring New Academic Tools

Time Management: Work together on a schedule and develop an organizational system with your student. Acknowledge and make allowances for her anxiety; at first, she may need to carry everything for all classes all the time in order to feel prepared.

General Skills Preparation: Summarizing, paraphrasing, and identifying main or important ideas and details are three skills that are essential in all content areas. After reading a book or watching a show/movie, have kids summarize what happened orally. Or have them recount the most important events. 

Note-Taking: The workload and pace really pick up in middle school, so note taking is going to be critical for them to keep up.  Start encouraging your child to develop a method of shorthand to prepare for note-taking.  Writing grocery lists and directions are simple ways for kids to practice. Show them your own writing shortcuts. Note-taking is not automatic; the more examples kids see, the quicker they’ll acquire the skill. 

Build their Problem Solving Skills: Common Core State Standards outline the knowledge and skills K-12 students need to acquire for post-high school success. Included in the CCSS are Standards for Mathematical Practice, many of which focus on academic behaviors and attitudes such as perseverance, constructing viable arguments, critiquing others' arguments, and paying attention to precision. As a parent, you can do your part to help a student acquire these key behaviors and attitudes. Encourage perseverance by having your child work through problems — rather than you stepping in to fix them. Encourage your child to formulate opinions and back them up with sound reasoning. Encourage your child to do things correctly rather than just finish them.

Challenge: Addressing Social Concerns

New friends:  One crucial area of worry for middle-schoolers is the social scene. You can help ease their trepidation by opening lines of communication and providing a sympathetic ear. Kids' worries and concerns about fitting in and making friends may seem trivial to adults, but for kids, these worries often trump worries about academics. Listen to their concerns and advise them on basic social skills. Encourage your child to join group conversations. Discuss how to join in without interrupting, to add something relevant to conversation in progress, etc.

Socializing Online: Online use of social media will ramp up during middle school. In fact, the average teenager sends over 3,000 text messages a month[1]. Make sure your kids understand that what they say and do online may come back to hurt them — or hurt others. Be aware of and set guidelines for use of social media on both computers and hand-held devices. Make sure you are able to regularly monitor your child’s access to text messaging and social media sites like Facebook. Increased awareness allows parents to step in and talk to their children before issues spiral out of control.

By starting now, you can help your rising elementary student prepare for these key challenges before they transition into middle school. Helping them know what to expect in terms of the social, academic and physical dynamics of middle school — and how to deal with this new environment — will do a lot to ease the anxiety every kid feels approaching this year of transition.

For additional resources, visit us on the web at www.sylvanlearning.com or your local Sylvan Learning Center:  Clinton, NJ 908-638-6788 or Flemington 908-806-4010 to reach us directly or call 1-800-31-SUCCESS at night or on weekends. 

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[1] http://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/new-study-average-teen-sends-3339-texts-every-month/

Great Vocabulary and Spelling Websites and Apps for iPad, iPod or iPhone

Hello everyone!  I know it's been a while since I updated, but I've been away on vacation in Disney World! 

I have some great websites that I've found that we've used in our Clinton Sylvan Learning Center as well as that I've used in a classroom.  Please make use of these websites this summer and feel free to add some more that you have used in the comments section below.  We can all benefit from shared knowledge, especially our kids!

http://www.freerice.org/

This website is especially great for preparing for the SAT- for every correct answer, they donate 10 grains of rice through the World Food Programme to help end hunger—learn and do good at the same time!

http://www.vocabulary.com/

You answer questions, they find words you may not know and help you to build your vocabulary.  This is a great website for Middle Schoolers and up, but again especially useful in preparing for the SAT.

http://www.vocabtest.com/

If your school uses the Sadlier-Oxford Vocabulary Workshop Book, pictured below, this is a must visit website to review words that were from previous school years or will see in the future. 

  

Flashcards+

 Free iPad & iPod app, pay only for voice component in any language--- they have libraries of stacks with anything from Spanish to SAT words

http://www.spellingcity.com/

This website uses dolche sight list words, lists that you create or lists from others- has games, practice and quizzes. 

http://www.kidsspell.com/

Spelling games using basic words.

Scramble with Friends, Words with Friends & Hanging with Friends (Free-Believe it or not- these are great for word building skills!)

Remember, these websites and apps are just SOME of the ones that we personally recommend and we have not been paid to sponsor any one of these links.  Please explore and see what is out there, but keep in mind that these are not meant to replace the great things a teacher can provide your child.  If you are still looking for additional help for your child, call the Clinton Sylvan at 908-638-6788 or the Flemington Sylvan at 908-806-4010.

Great Reading Websites and Apps

There are many things that I love about using a computer and some of them include all of the wonderful websites that are available for our children to use both in a classroom setting or to continue learning at home. Not only have I placed websites on this list, but I've also included Apps that can be downloaded to your iPad, iPhone or iPod touch, or even on your child's version of the same. 


I've compiled a list of some of my personal favorites here for you to use with many different ages of kids and I've included a short description of each so that you will know what they are about before you click through to each one to see if it is appropriate for your child or even children to use.   If these look interesting t you, just click on the title (bold and blue) and it *should* take you directly to the website as I've linked everything I can.  

So without further ado... Let me introduce you to my favorites!




Starfall -- This is a great website for young readers, including those just beginning to read.  The top link is "ABCs" where littler readers can practice their letters.  As you read down the short list of options on this main page, the options grow more difficult where students can "read" increasingly more difficult books and can have entire passages or select words read to them by clicking-- Make sure to have the volume up or headphones handy!

Starfall iPhone, iPod touch and iPad App Similar to the website, but it has much more portability!

BookAdventure  Book Adventure is a fun, free way to motivate your child to read! Kids in grades K-8 can find a book,  take quizzes on what they've read and earn prizes  for their reading success.  This is one favorite of mine for parents and teachers since teachers can set up an entire classroom full of students and see what they're reading and how they answer quizzes.

SmartyGames   This website has multiple subjects, but I've linked this directly to the reading and language arts section.  This is similar to Starfall, but there is also a games piece to it as well as some writing activities (which I will cover in another Blog entry). 

 TumbleBook   When you visit this site, you can sign up for a free trial before you subscribe as it is a subscription based website.  Check with your child’s school librarian as well, though, to see if they have a log-in from the school already as many public school librarians have taught students how to use this resource already. 

Project Gutenberg    Free copies of books that are out of copyright or are older.  These books can be read right on your computer, printed or downloaded to an e-reader such as Kindle. 

Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Road Rally Appisode  Anyone who knows me or who has visited my office knows that I love everything about Disney and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse is no difference, especially now that I have an infant at home.  While your 2-3 year old is not reading yet, you can help them be active participants in what they are watching by watching along with them with this iPad app. Your little one gets to help Mickey Mouse and the gang in a race by touching, shaking, dragging and saying the magic words along with them (Meeska, Mouska, Mickey Mouse!) as they race to the finish line as a team.

That's all that I have for you for now.  Please share ones that you have found for your child in the comments below, I would love to know about more that are out there!  

Until next time, it's a great day at Sylvan!!

~Stefanie, Center Director of Flemington and Clinton, New Jersey Sylvan Learning Centers

How Parents Can Help Their Children Hone Study Skills - and Life Skills

We know it is getting close to the end of the school year, but it seems that we are getting more and more questions from parents about how they can help their child at home to hone their study skills while we also work with their child at Sylvan. I thought that I would revisit a post from a few months ago for this week's entry... Try to remember. When you were a student, did you ever ask, “How will grammar (or geometry or social studies) benefit me later in life?” Be honest. Now, return to today. When was the last time you took notes at a meeting? Or prioritized your “to-do” list? Or organized a project from start to finish? The skills you use to do these tasks at work and at home are the same skills you learned and honed in English class (and geometry and social studies). Now, your children are developing those skills that will enable them to read analytically, write and speak expressively and think strategically. And when they ask, “What good is this going to do me?” - you know that it all starts with taking notes in history class, studying for that bio exam and juggling time to accommodate school, sports and social calendars!

Organization, time management, note taking, test taking and strategic reading are all essential study skills that are first introduced to young people in the classroom, but ultimately transfer far beyond school. To help your child develop these skills in a way that is meaningful to them – mainly applying them to their “job” which is school – Sylvan Learning recommends tips that parents can follow:
Organization and Time Management • Have students use a planning calendar to track daily, weekly and monthly assignments and responsibilities. • Encourage children to break down large, complex tasks into manageable pieces. • Have children prioritize homework and other tasks when they get home from school, then complete the tasks in that order.

Note Taking • Don’t panic if a child’s notes look sloppy and disorganized. It’s often just a sign of a student with an active mind who is organizing things in ways that work best for him or her. • Encourage students to review their notes and even rewrite them, if necessary, to be sure they make sense. • As they review their notes, have children identify the most important points and highlight them.

Test Taking • Urge a student to study over a period of days or weeks instead of cramming the night before. • Be sure students go into the test with the right equipment, whether that means a calculator, class notes, textbooks or simply a pencil. • Encourage them to answer test questions they know first and then go on to the more challenging questions.

Reading • Encourage young readers to use all the clues available to them while reading, such as headlines, pictures, captions, charts, tables and graphs. • Urge them to read different types of writing, such as books of fiction and nonfiction, newspaper and magazine articles, letters and Web sites. • Talk with kids after they read a book or article. Have them tell you what the story was about, why it did or didn’t interest them and how it related to their life.

Studies show that the more involved parents are with their children’s education, the better the children do in school. What the studies don’t say is that this involvement is not just in the children’s school, but in the children’s lives. Because life is a balance of basic core skills (reading and math) and personal skills, such as communication and responsibility skills (organization and time management), parents need to nourish all of these skills, not just the ones that yield a grade. Along with this, comes the language we use when talking with our children. Saying things like "You're never going to get into college at this rate," is something that we sometimes in a heated moment when we're upset with our children, but these words are hurtful and often compound the problem. Instead, try phrases that use "I-Statements" ex. "I'm upset that this is difficult for you" or "I want the best for you, how can I help you?" in some situations. In other situations where a child is just not doing their work, as in the case of homework, check their teacher's website, their online gradebook, their agenda and in some extreme cases, be in almost weekly contact with the classroom teacher.

For some students, though, the lack of higher grades on tests and quizzes might not be an issue of their study habits, it may be a sign of deeper frustrations in their Reading, Math or Writing skills.